Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Stock Position Lifted by Ghe LLC

Ghe LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,718 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Ghe LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Sysco by 11.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,859,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $717,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,287 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Sysco by 3.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,138,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,435,000 after acquiring an additional 178,464 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Sysco by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,651,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,298,000 after acquiring an additional 265,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Sysco by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,738,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,907,000 after acquiring an additional 21,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Sysco by 0.4% in the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,320,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,240,000 after acquiring an additional 9,385 shares in the last quarter. 83.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SYY. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.38.

Sysco Stock Performance

NYSE:SYY traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $77.29. 1,765,214 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,901,943. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $62.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.26 and a 200 day moving average of $74.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.32 billion. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sysco Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. Sysco’s payout ratio is currently 48.90%.

Insider Activity at Sysco

In other Sysco news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,926,560. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Sysco Profile

Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of various food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other segments.